Shocking: Most Parents Are Putting Their Babies Down to Sleep Completely Wrong

According to a recent study conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics, a large majority of parents are putting their babies to sleep in risky environments, despite the efforts of health care providers and public education campaigns to educate them on safety guidelines.

To conduct the study (which was originally aimed at simply observing new mothers' preferred sleeping arrangements, according to ABC News), researchers recorded the same group of approximately 160 infants at 1, 3 and 6 months. The video footage showed that many parents put their babies at risk by positioning them on their sides or stomachs, placing them on sleep surfaces that are too soft, have loose bedding or letting them share a bed with the parents, USA Today reports.

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Across the three age groups that the babies were observed, researchers also found that a whopping 87-93% had potentially dangerous items (such as loose blankets, stuffed animals or bumper pads) on their sleeping surface.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services has reported that sleep-related deaths are the number one cause of death for babies between the ages of 1 month and 1 year, so these findings are especially significant. And because this is the first study of its kind to use video recordings rather than parents' self-reported surveys or police reports following the sleep-related death of an infant, the methodology is considered to be groundbreaking.

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With all of that said, researchers have pointed out that their study does have limitations, as it primarily followed white and highly educated parents. Doctors often consider this demographic to be a "lower-risk group," however, and researchers were shocked to find that the parents, who they assume have access to educational resources about infant sleeping risks (like the national Safe to Sleep campaign), would continue to put their babies in dangerous sleeping environments. There might be a chance that these parents are aware of the potential risks and have consulted with their doctors about the best sleeping arrangements for their own child, but if so, this is not included in the text of the study.

Ultimately, it's important for parents to be aware of the sleeping environments that could lead to accidental suffocation, accidental strangulation or sudden infant death syndrome, also known as SIDS, for their babies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendations for preventing SIDS and other sleep-related problems read as follows:

Always place babies on their backs to sleep.

Use a firm sleep surface, such as a mattress in a safety-approved crib, covered by a fitted sheet.

Have the baby share your room, not your bed. Your baby should not sleep in an adult bed, on a couch or on a chair alone, with you or with anyone else.

Keep soft objects, such as pillows and loose bedding, out of your baby's sleep area.